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Peacock Software Blog Posts

Every year or so, I enjoy going through some of the top websites in the world, and finding out exactly what OS their server is running. Usually, it's always some flavor of Linux. It's been a few years, so it makes sense to give it a fresh look.

I've been using OpenOffice for years-- it's a free (mostly compatible) alternative to Microsoft Office. With no license fee to pay, it's a simple solution when setting up a new computer for a friend who needs an occasional word processor, powerpoint creator, etc.

But I recently have jumped ship on OpenOffice, and switched to an even better (and still free) office suite: LibreOffice.

I love Aptana as a PHP IDE which lets me edit remote files, through an SSH/SFTP connection. However, at the time of this writing, it does not support every kind of SSH exchange algorithm. When it hits a snag, the exact error message it gives is "No suitable key exchange algorithm could be agreed." I found this was the case on Acquia servers.

While this can be fixed at the server level, if you are working for a client who does not have access at that level (For example, on an Acquia server), you just can't use Aptana.

This post isn't really about IT or programming, but I thought it could help some folks out anyway. I am a freelance developer, and like a lot of freelancers, I need an easy system for keeping track of my finances. I believe I found that in the free web site waveapps.com.

Let me state for the record that I am not paid by Wave, nor am I in any way connected to this company. All I can say is that in my own experience, it has made keeping track of purchases & invoices a lot easier.

If you find yourself sending a lot of screenshots to clients or colleagues, I can't recommend enough the program "Greenshot". It's free and open source, and allows you to very quickly and easily capture just regions of your screen, certain windows, etc.

You can then either save your screenshot directly, or edit it in a basic image editor which lets you draw arrows, rectangles, and even blur regions-- very handy if you are sending sensitive information.

If you are considering a new startup or have an existing business with a physical server somewhere on-site (in a closet or something similar), you should consider the benefits of using a virtual server instead.

Full disclosure: I have used the virtual server company linode.com before, though I am not being paid by them and receive no benefit from my endorsement.

Let me break it down simply, by price:

At the time of this writing, a basic capable Linode virtual server costs $20/month. Through my own benchmarking tests, I've found its processor speed to be comparable with a modern medium-priced physical server.

If you have multiple gmail accounts, and would like a desktop shortcut to launch Chrome with completely different configurations (including different logged-in users), there are a couple different ways you can do this. The following technique is what I used, so I could have a shortcut on my Windows desktop specifically for 1 gmail account, that was always logged in and separate from my normal instance of Chrome, where my personal gmail account was always logged in.

In the business world, we frequently have a need to create PDF documents which can then be emailed around (for example, contracts and proposals). The alternative would be to use an old-fashioned fax machine; something most average users do not want to keep up with. However, many scanning programs do not make it easy to save a multi-page PDF document, instead forcing you to deal with several JPG files or something similar.

I would like to introduce to you my favorite method of scanning to PDF: "NAPS", which stands for "Not Another PDF Scanner." It's free, simple, and works with every scanner I've found. Once you scan your pages, you can easily reorder them if you like, and then save the collection of pages to PDF (or directly email if your workstation is set up with an email client).